Semester 4 Week 6

          In the fall of 2011 (last semester) I took REL 320 which is the Sacraments class.  This class was very essential in helping me achieve these objectives of accessing, gathering, organizing, and using information from different sources.  In this class we learned how the Sacraments have changed from before the Second Vatican Council and how they are now and the communal function they serve.  The basis of the class was the students had to write a term paper that had the students doing different writing processes throughout the semester.  The basis of the paper was to focus on one or a few of the Sacraments and discuss how there was a communal aspect to them.  So for example my thesis was: “This symbolization of the sacrament (marriage) emphasizes a communal aspect that is essential for the health of the marriage and the community that surrounds it.  This communal aspect is shown in Christ’s command for us to love our neighbor, the Holy Trinity and the relationship between the three Divine Persons, and procreation which is one of two goods of marriage.”

          This paper had to be around at least 12 pages long.  To achieve this length and to support my thesis I had to be able to do all of those objectives listed above.  The final draft of my paper had 13 sources in the bibliography, but I looked at many more than that for the research of my paper.  To start off we had to do an annotated bibliography at some of the sources we first looked at.  While I personally do not enjoy doing annotated bibliographies because they are tedious and take forever, it was very helpful because it helped me narrow down what types of books and articles to look at more in depth.  Besides all the different drafts of bibliographies we had to do, we also had to make a chart on how all of our evidence connected using a concept map tool.  This was one of the most helpful things we did to organize all of our ideas and small tidbits of information we had gotten from many different sources.  It showed me how in some places my ideas and evidence were very well connected and then how in other places I needed more evidence to make a good connection.

          As I said before my final draft of my paper had 13 sources.  I used the most variety of sources I have ever used before in a paper.  I used papal encyclicals, journal articles, books, textbooks used for some of my other classes, the Catholic Rites book, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  The variety of sources, while time consuming to read through, really made my paper dynamic and gave a plethora of viewpoints and connections.

          Something that I think could have been changed to make the class more effective in reaching the objective that majors can access, gather, organize and use information from important primary and credible secondary sources is the peer review process.  In every step of our paper we were peer reviewed and I did not find this very helpful especially for the portions about the sources we were using.  While I like the idea of a peer review, most of the reviews given to me were very generic and there was not a lot of effort or insight put into them.  I know the professor does not have the time to go through each step of the process and grade students on their different steps, but I think there has to be some way to make students do better a better job at peer reviewing.

                  

Semester 3 Week 11

          As a freshman I was not a Religious Studies major I was a Secondary Education and Biology major.  I realized within my first couple of months at Loras that I would not be happy in my current major so I began looking at different possibilities.  Since I was coming back to my faith at this point in time, I was very interested in Theology/Religious Studies.  So I decided to try a course, Jesus in the Gospels, and ended up loving it.  But, I still was not sure if this major was for me so I did not officially declare, but signed up for more Religious Studies classes. 

          During that summer, the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I decided to work for a program called Totus Tuus.  Working this program really influenced me and made me realize that I want and am meant to do some sort of work in Theology/Religious Studies and work for the Catholic Church.  Totus Tuus is a youth summer catechetical program.  Totus Tuus is a phrase that is translated from Latin to mean “totally yours” and the program takes its name from Blessed Pope John Paul II’s apostolic motto which signified his devotion to the Virgin Mother Mary (Totus Tuus Maria).  The program consisted of a team of four college students (I was one of them), two boys and two girls, who go to a different parish every week.  Our team would stay at a member of the parish’s house for the week, the boys at one house and the girls at another.  Every day the grades 2-8 would come from 9:00-3:00 where we would teach four different classes on the Catholic faith.  The classes covered many different topics such as the Luminous mysteries, prayer, Mary, mass, etc.  Mass was also an essential part of the day as well as confession.  Then in the evenings we would give talks to high school students and do different activities with them.  These talks covered a variety of subjects such as chastity, prayer, Saints, etc.  We covered six parishes throughout the summer in the Des Moines diocese.

          Working for Totus Tuus was a very great influence for my decision that I wanted to be a Religious Studies major.  It made me see how great the need is to evangelize and teach in the Catholic Church, especially to the youth.  The experience I got from working Totus Tuus was invaluable.  Teaching anywhere from 10 to 24 children at one time really makes you learn to not only think on your feet, but to convey the faith in a an understandable way that is not watered down.  Also Totus Tuus helped me to be a much more comfortable public speaker.  We not only gave talks to high school students, but we also had to speak in front of whole parishes at mass to publicize our program.  Not only was this a good teaching and public speaking experience, but it also helped me to understand a little more how parish dynamics work.  To have to coordinate with directors of religious education, youth ministers, priests, and parents was very challenging (in a great way of course) but it was also a great way to learn how parishes work.  It also gave me an increased respect for how much work people who work in a parish have to do.  Totus Tuus definitely influenced me becoming a Religious Studies major and I can see that it has also prepared me for future work in the Catholic Church. 

Semester 3 Week 6

          As I am now a junior Religious Studies major here at Loras College I really need to start thinking about my future and what I intend to do with my major.  I suppose I should note here that I am seriously considering adding a Philosophy major because I am almost done with my Religious Studies major and I have already taken some of the classes needed.  Anyway that is just a side note.

          There are many different career options that are possible with a Religious Studies major.  Some of them include graduate school to pursue a doctorate in many different aspects of theology, parish work such as a director of religious education, a youth minister, director of RCIA, liturgical coordinator, marriage ministry or other sorts of specialized ministry.  There are also volunteer options such as a volunteer at Catholic camps, the Peace corps, etc.

          Obviously each of these different options requires different skills.  Graduate school would require a strong academic background in Religious Studies/Theology and study skills as well as a good GRE score and letters of recommendation.  Plus a strong will is necessary for continuing on education and a vision of where you want to go with your graduate degree.  I think the Religious Studies program at Loras prepares students very well for graduate school.  The classes are always very high caliber and challenge me to the utmost especially in writing a paper and developing a thesis, which from what I have heard, you do a lot of in graduate school.  Also, during senior year Loras has a 6 credit hour thesis students can complete if they are seriously considering going onto graduate school which can help one get into graduate school.  Plus, the student faculty relationships on campus are very strong and personal so the professors are always helpful for knowledge and guidance because of how well they know their students.

           As for parish and volunteer work, it seems that not only grades or involvement of certain activities seems to be the only thing important, but hands on experience.  This is where the Religious Studies practicum I think comes into really helping students out.  It gives experience to the student, but it also forces them (in a good way) to connect their daily experiences with what they learned in the classroom through evaluations and journals.  It also helps students make connections with the parish/school community for potential jobs in the future.  As for class work I think Loras lays a good foundation for ministry in what they teach.  We get a great and broad background of knowledge of Catholic theology and beliefs, through classes such as Christian Sexual Morality, Catholic Social Teachings, Sacraments, The Catholic Heritage, Introduction to Theology and Religious Studies, and many other classes.  We also get a good biblical foundation through classes such as Jesus and the Gospels, God’s Literature, Does the Land Belong to Israel?, Wisdom of the Prophets, and others.  The only thing that I think maybe could be added to the Loras curriculum is some classes on ministry within the Church.  But, I know that a class about foundations of ministry is being added for next semester which will be a great addition.  

          To be honest I do not know what I would like to do with my major, the ideas I have seem to change every week.  But, I do know I want to graduate (haha) and as of right now I have no desire to go to graduate school to pursue a doctorate, so it is a good thing I have many other options.  Right now I am leaning towards possibly working in catechism in some sort of aspect in a parish whether in RCIA or religious education.  Young adult and adult ministry also really interests me.  I am excited to see where the Lord leads me and the experiences still to come in the Religious Studies department at Loras College.   

Semester 2 Week 11

          This semester I am happy to say that I am taking a class called Philosophy of God and Religion by Dr. Janine Idziak.  I feel this class relates very much to a class I took last semester called Introduction to Religious Studies/Theology.  These two classes relate because they both discussed how we justify the presence of evil in the world: theodicies.  They both just approach this subject in a different way. In the Introduction to Religious Studies and Theology course we discussed different religions and their view on God and Sacred Scripture; these religions were not necessarily Christian, but a very broad spectrum of different religions.  This class we also discussed theodicies and the problem of evil and biblically how we see these theodicies.  In the philosophy class we studied how to justify God’s existence philosophically, God’s attributes, and how to justify God’s existence with the problem of evil.

          I would have to say the most relatable subject we discussed in both classes was the problem of evil in the world and how to justify that problem with God’s existence.  The question that was posed in both classes was that if God is all knowing, all powerful, and all good how can evil exist in our world?  To answer this question both of my classes studied some of the same and some of the different theodicies that try and answer this question. 

Both classes studied John Hick’s soul making theodicy and the theodicy of suffering as a punishment from God.  In the soul making theodicy, we learned that suffering could be a way for humans to perfect ourselves and that is why God created a world with evil within it.  But the question that this theodicy leaves us with is that people do not always come out better because of suffering so why would God make evil present in the world to perfect us, when in fact many people despair or become worse people because of an evil they experienced?  The other theodicy both classes studied was that suffering is a punishment for sin.  In Intro to Religious Studies/Theology we studied the Old Testament, specifically Isaiah and Job, to understand this theodicy more.  In Isaiah we saw how many cities were sinning against the Lord in various ways: murder, idolatry, etc. and so the Lord sent many types of suffering upon them as punishment for their sins.  Then, in Job, we see how his peers are accusing him of doing some sort of wrong against the Lord because of the suffering he is going through, but he denies this claim.  This theodicy is very prevalent in the Old Testament.  Then in my philosophy class this semester, we also studied this theodicy by using the movie: God on Trial.  This movie was about men, mostly Jews, in a concentration camp during WWII and they put God on trial on the accusation of breaking the covenant with His people.  In this movie one of the possible reasons they come up with to why the Holocaust was happening is God punishing them for their sins.  We found many problems with this theodicy in class, just like the Jews had a problem with this explanation.  This theodicy is problematic because if one of God’s attributes is all good, then this theodicy is not possible.  Also, the extent of the punishment in comparison to the possible crimes would not be equal, the punishment would be entirely way too harsh.  And thirdly, what about the innocent children in the Holocaust and in the world who had to go through that suffering?  They could not have done anything to gain any type of punishment. 

Both Philosophy of God and Religion and Intro to Religious Studies/Theology classes I enjoyed immensely.  Both classes, while different in many aspects, were similar in the way we studied the problem of evil in the world and how to justify that with God’s existence.       

Semester 2 Week 6

Last semester I took a class called Wisdom of the Prophets.  In this course we dove deeply into the Old Testament prophets and learned what their individual themes were, how they portrayed their message to the Jewish people, and how God was portrayed in each of their books. Some of the themes we saw in the Old Testament were the suffering servant in Isaiah, which is related to Christ as the suffering servant in the New Testament, justice, and repentance.  Personally, it was a very interesting class for me because I had always thought the God in the Old Testament was not relatable at all and very harsh and demanding.  But through the closer study of the prophets I began to see that God was harsh out of love and justice and it pained Him to see His people turn away from him.

          This class did reach its objective in the fact it helped me to demonstrate that I can read “texts” analytically looking for their religious and theological values and show this through writing and oral communication.  There were two specific projects that we did in this class that I think really helped me to be able to reach this objective.  The first project was where we were in groups and each group was given an individual prophet or part of a prophetic book.  We were then instructed to discuss who the prophet was, what his message/theme was, and three modern day prophets who related to him.  Then we were supposed to display all of this on a poster board to fit the class theme of a well known online website.  So for example our group did Google Search, other groups did Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc.  It was very challenging to have to present the information we found in this way, but very informative and helped me learn a lot because we had to work together as a group to think outside of the box and be creative when none of us really are not known for our creativity.  So to make this project work we had to utilize a lot of teamwork and work to each other’s strengths.  The second activity we did, which was an in class activity.  Our professor gave us different paintings portraying scenes or prophets from the Old Testament.  We then had a about three or four paintings assigned to our group and we had to analyze them and think critically about what the painter was emphasizing about that specific scene or prophet he had painted.

          I thought this class did a sufficient job of helping the students reaching the objective stated above, but I do have one suggestion to continue to help the class grow.  I feel we had a lot of lecture in this class and while I know lecture is the basis of any class, I feel we had too much of it and not enough in class group discussions or projects.  Overall, I felt this class was a great learning experience and I look forward to my future classes in this field of study.      

Week 11

      At the moment I am about to finish REL 112 which is the Intro to Religious Studies and Theology course.  This course has really done an excellent job in broadening my horizons in regards to not only other religious denominations that exist in the Unites States, but also other religions that exist with us throughout the whole world.  One specific area that I can honestly say that I understand in a much better way is Catholic vs. Protestant theology and its similarities and differences.  In class we discussed theological epistemology in regards to both denominations.  I recently wrote a paper for my Medieval and Renaissance British Literature class where I discussed why some Protestant translations of the bible use the word “love” instead of “charity” because charity (used in the Catholic translations) can imply that works are needed to attain salvation, which is not a Protestant view.  To write this paper I derived much of my information from taking REL 112 and found it very helpful.  Through this in depth look at both denominations and the history of the Protestant Reformation, it is easier for me to understand why there was such a rift between Protestants and Catholics and that while it is definitely not as fierce, is still present in the world today.

          It was also very interesting for me to get a more detailed look at more eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.  To see how these religions so very much affect their culture is amazing to me.  In the text we use called Anatomy of the Sacred, by James Livingston, it talks about how Hinduism views social life as being very fragile and complex and that complexity is looked upon as a possibility for danger.  Within their social system there is a caste system made up of four classes of people.  Each of these classes have a specific function in society that they are expected to fulfill otherwise there will be disorder which can lead to social chaos. (298-299).  This was an eye opening experience for me in learning the way countries such as India function as a society.  Here in America we are encouraged to strive to be better than we are now, to move up in society and try to achieve a better “social status” than our parents.  In Hindu societies, they are supposed to fulfill their expected duties in their caste, attempting to move up in the caste system can be seen as chaos and is dangerous.  It was an interesting realization for me that not all social structures in the world are similar to the one we have in the United States.  This class has significantly broadened my horizons to many different religions and denominations and how it affects their culture.

          In response to the question “What could be changed in the course so that it could help you reach the objective even more effectively?” I first should state the objective.  The objective given for this course was “Majors should be able to use theology to interpret beliefs and practices-religious or more broadly cultural-within the contemporary world”.  To answer the question I feel that this class gave a very good overall look at the theology and religious practices of other religions, but I feel that I personally would have enjoyed a more in depth look at one or two other religions or denominations and to compare/contrast them to Catholicism.  But, I understand that for this course it was more about getting a broader view of the types of denominations and religions that our world has today.      

Week 6

Making the switch over to be a Religious Studies/Theology major was huge change for me; I was originally a biology and secondary education major.  I was not happy nor could I see myself doing anything in the biology field, so I started looking into other majors/career options and Religious Studies/Theology kept popping into my mind as an option, even though I had never considered it before.  So I decided to take a Religious Studies course during second semester at Loras and so I took the Jesus and the Gospels class to see what course work would be like in this major and absolutely loved it.  Then this past summer I taught in a Catholic summer catechetical program called Totus Tuus which just affirmed my decision to major in Religious Studies/Theology. 

          I would ultimately like to teach theology or work for the Church one day in some capacity.  I hope as a Religious Studies/Theology major to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of not only Catholic theology, but a thorough understanding of other denominations’ and religions’ theology.  I also hope to learn how to relate theology in an attainable and engaging way to other people.  The classes I am currently taking are doing a great job of helping me not only understand Catholic views and theology but also many other views as well.  One of the classes I am currently taking is Introduction to Religious Studies and Theology.  This class in particular has been great for examining other religions and denominations and also being able to compare and contrast them.  For example, we recently discussed the differences and similarities in how Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther approach theological epistemology.  It was very interesting to look at both of their approaches from a more objective viewpoint in this class, instead of just the “Catholic” perspective from which I grew up with.  Another class that I am taking at the moment is called Wisdom of the Prophets.  In this class we look at the Prophetic books of the Old Testament.  One of the books we use to help supplement the readings to the Bible is written by a Jewish man called The Prophets, by Abraham Heschel.  This class is fantastic to have because it gives me an understanding of how Judaism interprets the Old Testament and helps me to see the similarities and differences between how they understand the prophetic books and how Catholicism understands them.  Then, in my Catholic Heritage course, I get a deeper knowledge and love for the beauty and Truth of the Catholic faith.  We have done things that have increased my knowledge of both the rich history and tradition of the faith.  We have read Saints’ reflections on the Eucharist and watched and experienced the beautiful tradition of a Tridentine Mass.  Overall, I am very excited about being a Religious Studies/Theology major.  I expect to continue to learn more about the Catholic faith as well as other faith traditions.  I also hope get opportunities to teach others about the faith and continually be affirmed in my decision to switch majors.